Sen. Graham: Trump-Russia probe seems to be criminal investigation

On Wednesday, former Marine and FBI director Robert S. Mueller III was appointed the special counsel to oversee the investigation into Russia's interference with the 2016 USA election.

McCaskill said: "He did acknowledge that he learned Comey would be removed prior to him writing his memo".

"The political reason on the Democratic side is obvious: It's to namely keep this issue going and to keep it ideally going into the 2018 elections and, even more, into the presidential elections of 2020", he said.

There was confusion during the day surrounding Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser who has emerged as a central figure because of his own ties to Russian Federation, which led to his dismissal early on in the Trump administration. In the memo Rosenstein criticized Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

Rosenstein's highly-anticipated appearance came after a week of major developments that flowed from the Comey firing. Patrick Fitzgerald's inquiry into the Valeria Plate leak case resulted in the indictment and conviction of a top White House staffer on five counts of lying to a grand jury and providing false statements.

Michael Vick back on field for American Flag Football LeagueThe report also noted Vick has "committed" to play quarterback for one of the teams in addition to his role as a league adviser. Only seven players will be on the field at a time for each team, but the field will be the traditional 100 yards.

Russian Federation investigation Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein surprised the White House by announcing the appointment of a Special Counsel to oversee the Russian Federation investigation late on Wednesday.

During a press conference that day, however, Trump appeared to fall back on the White House's talking point that he had fired Comey at Rosenstein's recommendation.

Some of Trump's Republican allies, like Congressman Jason Amash, have begun cautiously suggesting impeachment is no longer impossible. However, Democrats have said the dismissal was because Comey was leading the probe into Russia's alleged election meddling, and have called for an independent investigation. "As to Mr. [James] Comey, the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, coming before the committee, if I were Mr. Mueller, I would jealously guard the witness pool". "That's a benefit to us", Lankford said. Lawmakers will have to be "leery of crossing into Mr. Mueller's lane" by seeking information from people facing possible criminal liability, the senator said.

Rosenstein gave the impression that recently-appointed special counsel Robert Mueller was treating the investigation as a criminal matter, Graham explained.

"This shuts the whole thing down", said one Republican source, speaking on Congressional efforts to investigate Comey's discussions with Trump.

Most members of both parties, however, left the briefing saying they didn't learn much new. "It was really not a big deal, just be honest".

That's according to Missouri Democratic Sen.

"Next question", Mr. Trump said. And Repubican Senator Bill Cassidy said Rosenstein stressed that the existence of the investigation itself does not mean that somebody definitively committed a crime.

"We have two very different missions".

"This was a DOJ decision", Spicer told reporters on May 9, referring to the Department of Justice. "When I made that decision I actually thought it would be a bipartisan decision because you look at all of the people on the Democratic side, not only the Republican side, that were saying such bad thing about Director Comey". "Because he is a man of great integrity and experience", Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.